Police in two separate drives in Chittagong seized an AK-22 automatic rifle and a light gun (LG), and nabbed a man who claimed to be a Chhatra League activist Wednesday night and early Thursday respectively.
At a press conference, Commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) Md Shafiqul Islam said Karnaphuli police, on suspicion, traced a man carrying a school bag at the city’s Moijjartek area at around 9:30pm when he got off a bus from Cox’s Bazaar.
Sensing the presence of law enforcers, the man got into a running bus leaving the bag on the spot and fled, the commissioner said.
Later, police recovered a China-made automatic AK-22 rifle with eight cartridges and some motorbike documents from the bag, he said, adding that such rifles with small-bores are mainly used in close combat.
“We have no idea why this rifle was brought here as this type of rifle has been recovered for the first time, but we are investigating into it and looking for the absconding man,” the CMP commissioner said.
In another drive, Sadarghat police nabbed a man, Md Jahangir, 35, with an LG and six rounds of cartridges from Anu Majhir Ghat area at around 2:30am.
Jahangir, using the name of Bangladesh Chhatra League, has been involved in extortion in the area for a long time, Sadarghat police station Officer-in-Charge Pranab Chowdhury said.
Two arms cases have been lodged with the Karnaphuli and Sadarghat police stations in these connections.